National Police agents arrested 82 people and 58 high-end vehicles were rescuedin a macro operation against illegal vehicle trade was carried out in more than 20 provincesAccording to the General Directorate of Security.
In Alicante, Almería, Jaén, Madrid, Murcia and Tarragona they have formed a strongly structured organization in six interrelated cores, each with its own structure. They set up companies all over the country to contract for rental or leasing services for vehicles, after later falsifying documents. intended for sale both in Spain and in different European countries.
The fraud produced by the organization is estimated at more than 10,000,000 Euros. Those arrested are charged with membership of a criminal organization, fraud, concealment of assets, forged documents, extortion and money laundering, among other crimes.
The investigation began in February last year.When a Romanian national was identified in a vehicle with a fake driver’s license at the Slovenian border, the car belonging to a Spanish rental company had been registered in the town of Murcia ten days ago and delivered to that city in that city. Manager of a Barcelona-based company.
A short time later, another person tried to cross the same border with another vehicle with the same specifications, again with forged documents, a fictitious sales contract, and another vehicle belonging to a Spanish rental company, which had been registered and delivered to the city days ago. To the manager of another company based in Murcia, Almería.
In this way, two allegedly unrelated companies headquartered in different capitals, Contracted and purchased vehicles crossing the Slovenian border in Murcia Agents also discovered that two people driving the vehicles had flown into Spain on a one-way ticket days ago, not the first time they’ve done so.
Based on this information, First arrests and investigation launched for fraud and forged document crimes It dismantled up to six illicit vehicle smuggling centers in Alicante, each of which is self-contained but interconnected, allowing the uninterrupted detection and detention of all members of the criminal organization across the country, Madrid, Murcia, Jaén, Almería and Tarragona.
The dynamics of this criminal organization consisted of: creation or use of companies dedicated to different activities and making service contracts with offices scattered across the national geography rental or leasing of vehicles, However, for these contracts, natural persons also used their “mules”.
After the vehicles are in the hands of the organization, fraudulent documentsand through fictitious sales contracts They were transferred to European countrieshere they were offered at low prices to other criminal networks, which in turn sold them to real buyers.
The researchers found that in some cases and followed the same methodology. vehicles were also sold within the country’s borders.
Structure of the organization
Organization “strongly structured” and it consisted of people with different, well-defined roles in it. Thus, there were successful individuals who, through companies or on their own behalf, obtained the means for later transfer to the organization.
Agents or human traffickers was responsible for the sale or promotion of vehicles in the legal marketothers carried out the necessary procedures and documents to ensure the transfer of cars.
In addition, in return for financial compensation,fraudulently provided their identities with the organization that performed the transactions and those responsible for the sales business to effect the change of ownership of the cars.
stopped during operation 82 people of Spanish and Romanian nationality in different provinces of the national region — Alicante (33), Jaén (18), Madrid (11), Murcia (11), Almería (5), Hellín (2), Castellón (1) and Zaragoza (1) — devoted to vehicle sales Searches were made in the homes and legal centers of companies and organizations.
58 high-end vehicles were intervened in the operationThree tractor heads worth more than 400,000 Euros, over 24,000 Euros in cash, lots of documents and tools for counterfeiting.
Also, agents They identified 50 more cars under investigation.In case they were obtained through the same fraudulent procedure. Investigators have observed that some passenger cars have “bays” in various compartments, so they are also investigating whether the organization is linked to drug trafficking.